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Romney-Ryan 2012

Governor Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate. To react to this choice and what it'll mean for the Republican ticket, we have Reihan Salam, columnist at The Daily and blogger for National Review Online'sThe Agenda. Then, Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for the New Yorker, discusses Paul Ryan's background and record.

Neither Dem or Rep. I just want to know why people hear from the press, magazines, newspapers, radio, TV and the internet that medicare is an "entitlement" entitlement as in what people have paid into are entitled to get back out? People who do not need SS or medicare do all the talking, social security has a cap, it takes the 98% (upper middle, lower middler, poor income)at least 10 months to reach the cap, the cap is the same for everyone, so the 2% reach the cap immediately. All of the cuts proposed are on the services the 98% work diligently all their lives for. Obama, Biden, Romney nor Ryan will need social security or medicare yet they get to make decisions that will affect those who will need it. We've lost sight of what politicians are elected to do, that is to represent the People who sent them, not the 2% but the majority of the people who sent them.

CK at 10:29 said "in three and a half years, how is it that the deficit has shot up, we're still in wars and Abu Grabe is still open? What's Obama done to fix it?"

OK....BWB went to war in Afganistan, and then decided to go to war for entirely trumped up reasons in Iraq. You know, where our troops would be greeted with flowers and it wouldn't even cost anything because we would take some oil revenue and in no time the people would have a nice democracy going. This largely drained resources from the original Afganistan project and along with tax cuts mostly for the wealthy exploded the deficit. The national debt, after the WWII spike, was reduced compared to GDP by every presidential administration except Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. Clinton was actually paying it off. Most of the national debt is due to those three presidents.

You may have noticed that, because of lessening regulation over the years and intentional lack of enforcement of what was left by Bush II, the finance industry created the biggest crash since the Great Depression. But because of the national debt created by R, B and BII, there wasn't a big pot of money to fix it quickly. Obama did what he could with a bill half the size most economists said was necessary and also about a third tax cuts, which are the least efficient way to do it, both at the insistence of Republicans in Congress. Tax revenues are down in a severe recession when 8% of the workers are unemployed anyway, and expenses are up for extra unemployment insurance costs and more people on Medicaid etc.

Obama, who opposed the Iraq war in the first place, managed to end that one on schedule. He put more into Afganistan and is now winding that one down on schedule.

Abu Ghraib in Iraq was closed for three years and reopened as a prison in a reformed state. If you were actually thinking of Guantanamo, Obama tried to close it. Republicans wouldn't let him.

The basic question some have raised is whether Americans will continue to swallow - hook, line and sinker - an economic ideology which hurts the vast majority of the population. The sad truth is that there are far too many middle-class voters who vote against their economic self-interest. We are witnessing growing inequality in wealth distribution and opportunity. Now, Romney-Ryan want to take a failed ideology even further, adding to subsidies for the wealthy while cutting supports for the poor, sick and elderly. This is shameful and shortsighted. Will average Americans wake up and show they understand that they will be the victims of these policies? If they do, this election would not even be close.

Thank you for clarifying that 'entitlement' point for all the dopes whose heads are in the clouds about it.It's clear the GOP needs us to buy into that lie so it will appear they aren't stealing our money from us.

I find it fascinating that the Ryan supporters keep saying that when Ryan "understood" how his original plan would devastate the middle class, he changed it. Oh so he put out a budget without understanding it's ramifications? That's who you want? That doesn't sound like someone who is "well thought out" to me.

Medicare is NOT an 'entitlement' and it is NOT 'free medical care' -- as Brian and guest have called it a couple of times this morning...

I pay over FOUR HUNDRED dollars EVERY MONTH for Medicare INSURANCE, plus 20% CO-PAY on most expenses ... yeah, I'm "entitled" to re-imbursment just as much as my auto insurance or house insurance "entitles" me to payment of damages.

Stop calling Medicare 'free medical care' or 'entitlement' and call it MEDICAL INSURANCE - because that is what it is.

Same thing for Social Security -- it is NOT an 'entitlement' -- we pay into it, employers pay into it, and when we collect we are collecting on our 'retirement insurance' -- yeah, we are 'entitled' to collect the payments, but it sure hasn't been a free gift from the government.

Individualism verses collectivism is a 1950's argument from a time when the U.S. faced an existential threat, the Soviet Union. Paul Ryan in his definition of America ignores the Preamble of the Constitution that states as its purpose to, "promote the general Welfare" of the people.

There are no true Randians...No pure 'power of the free market'-types. We all want the government to move heaven and earth to avoid a deflation...A significant deflation re-orders wages as well as prices.

Three-fourths of the deficit is caused by the lackluster recovery. If Congress would get serious and put us a firm road to recovery, most of the deficit problem would be solved. If your priority is to cut the budget, then the recession is over for you. If your priority is to lower unemployment, the recession is still happening.

The description of the Ryan family's place in the upper class of small town America puts me in mind of Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt. Small town, small mind, small ideas. By the way, Ayn Rand didn't seem to have any objection to becoming a Medicare beneficiary and using the benefits.

One piece in Politico (by Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan) told me all I need to know about Ryan:"Ryan had a keen sense of how his status had changed when he won his first election to the House in 1998. A reporter he knew from his days as an aide approached him to wish him well.“Congratulations, Paul,” said the reporter, who was several years older than Ryan. “It’s Mr. Ryan, now,” he replied.

....that gem and the fact that he started collecting Social Security when his dad died young... money he used to pay for his own college education. Now? He got his, now he's ready to pull up the ladder on the less fortunate. Typical Republican behavior. And let's talk about how Ayn Rand collected Social Security and Medicare checks herself.

Is Ryan Lizza going to mention or does he just not know that Paul Ryan received Social Security benefits after his father died, from age 16-18, which also allowed him to attend college? He attended public schools, a public university, has worked his entire life in the government except for a short stint with the family-related firm, and has benefited handsomely from the government. Yet he wants to destroy it and the safety net, which helped him. This goes beyond hypocrisy....

Ayn Rand, is a mediocre writer, I wouldn't even call her a philosopher. She is a reactionary because of her traumatic childhood in Stalinist Russia, I feel bad for her but her works are simplistic and poor.

Ryan Lizza's New York Mag profile of Paul Ryan was totally unacceptable, i.e. BAD. It was like treating the devil as a hardworking guy notable for his unusual attire. Instead, the profile should have begun by outlining Ryan's insane budget proposals, taken them apart to show their deleterious effect, and ended with the obvious conclusion that Ryan and the Republicans are a disaster for America. Jeez.

Romney said America is an "idea" and that America is the only country founded on an "idea". Actually, I just began reading Ian Kershaw's book about Hitler, and a tenet of the Nazi party was that they promoted an idea, theirs being the nation or the people, "Volk". Now I would not compare the Republican Party to the Nazi party, mainly because, thank God, we do not have the same cavalier attitude toward violence for the achievement of political ends, nonetheless anytime an "idea" can blind us to the needs of people I think it is contrary to the values of our nation.

This is objective? This interview with the NR guy sounds like a Q/A spot from the Romney site - Brian is the Q and then comes the propaganda answer.

Yes, you quote Krugman, Brian, but you have no real follow up to the specious answers provided by your guest - "to grow the economy in a healthy way" == "no tax increase in the rich" for instance.

You allowed your guest to make an advertisement for Ryan. That's a shame and not informative.

I contribute to public radio when I can but this kind of stuff keeps me from helping WNYC. I expect better - we can get the generic talking head stuff on, say, NBC. Again, this is the generic stuff I'd expect from Candy Crowley.

CONSPIRACY THEORY: Is Mitt drawing so stark a line in the sand -- by defining so exclusive, pro-1% and pro-opportunity-inequality a platform -- to turn people off in droves and thereby throw the election, leaving Obama and the Dems holding the coming economic catastrophe and setting up the Repubs for 2016?...

Or is this yet another example of cognitive dissonance in response to the Obama presidency?

Or do they simply think that Americans are base and ignant enough to support such a platform -- that promotes the same policies under which the economy imploded and income-inequality exploded, without saying what they'd do differently? (Maybe they KNOW Americans are that ignant.)

...Does Reihan attend Republican events? If so, how does he feel sticking out like a dumb sore thumb? How does he feel that no one there AT ALL feels the need to address this? What credibility do such self-defeating people really have?

IF Mr. Romney's choice for vice president is an indication of how he would lead, it's thumbs up for Republicans and go pound sand for the rest of us.

He's choosing to attract more Right-wing voters and giving the Center the finger. That is not a strong electoral strategy. Romney knows his campaign is toast and wants enough TP-types to show up so they can keep the House. Let's plan to go vote and deny it to them.

@Martin Chuzzlewit from ManhattanThese quotes only show that Ryan knows how to write a few applause lines. Regarding 4 years of failed leadership, we have the RNC to thank for that. Your guy Mitch McConnell did say that the republican's only focus was to make sure Obama was a one term president. Not fix the economy, jobs, or anything else. Another mission accomplished.

IN reality, what we have is "deficit versus productivity" problem. We cannot merely tax our way out of deficits and this growing national debt. We have to reduce the standard of living of the "middle class" back to where it once was, while producing more and better educated children capable of joining the work force with the requisite schools and producing.

This is not merely an economic problem, but a socieoeconomic problem. To many people retiring and becoming unproductive - as well as drawing on the treasury, with too few young being produced and properly educated to replace them.

Where was all this concern about the deficit when republicans put 2 wars on a credit card? I sense there is only concern about it when it is increasing under an opposite-party president is in office. War is OK to spend money on but health care is not? Geez.

Oh, so if the Ryan plan didn't work for poor people they'd change it. Meanwhile, how many poor people would be hurt by it? Just like, if all the foreclosures were allowed to go forward till it all bottomed out, as Mitt Romney recommends, how many people would lose their homes?

Re taxes: the guest is dead wrong. The mortgage deduction and other deductions as a percent of income dont do much for the wealthy. Two reasons: the upper middle class and even the barely 1 percenters like my family get hit by the AMT and therefore deductions do nothing more me. I am grateful for t success and don't mind paying my share. The deductions for the ultra rich (think Romney) don't matter because anything they lose on deductions is so far outstripped by the lower rates they pay. Lastly, the upper 1 percenters like Romney shelter their money, use shell corporations etc so that they pay only 15% or less on their income. So the tax changed would absolutely hurt middle class and benefit the wealthy.

Ryan's announcement that he derived his inspiration to enter public life from Ayn Rand tells you all you need to know about him. Namely: it's all about him, survival of the fittest is the prime directive, and anyone in need can go directly to hell. Yeah, that's really who we need at the helm of this country. Jesus what a creep.

So we're going to take Krugman's input as the last word? I'm with your guest: we have to do something, so why not look at the realist parts of the Ryan plan? What's Obama doing about it? He's going to keep things going downhill as he has for the last 3.5 years.

It's a brilliant pick for the future Republican Party. Romney is toast and no vice-president can help him, but the Ryan budget is now set as the one the Republicans will be pushing for the next 20 years.

Ryan is a friendly face pushing cruel and destructive policies. It worked with Reagan. Ryan even has carefully pomaded his hair in signature Reagan style as a clear signal to the Reagan Democrats who can be convinced to vote against their own interests by affect alone.

Practical question: Under Wisconsin law, can Congressman Ryan run for re-election to his House seat as well as for vice-President, or will he have to give up that race? I believe NY law only allows one ballot place per candidate.

Radical:a : very different from the usual or traditional : extremeb : favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutionsc : associated with political views, practices, and policies of extreme change

Ryan focuses on what he see as an irreversible debt crisis, that has to be dealt with before it breaks us. That may be, but his solitary focus on that particular one, when that is just one of many global calamities to deal with..., clearly shows he and the rest of the political debates are deeply confused.

His solution doesn't even include his self-interest, nor does it seem anyone else's does either.

NPR and others are reporting that Ryan bought Goldman Sachs stock (and may have done other trades) after learning about the TARP plan (which he voted for). Ryan's recent press release says he thinks that this sort of "insider trading" is wrong and he supports the STOCK law that bans it. This needs to be investigated more thoroughly.

I love the injection of Ryan to create this national debate! We shall see if people in the U.S. are ready to go back to a pre-New Deal America in both its style and in substance, with his politics (and political economy) in a trickle-down, Neoliberal, libertarian, market fundamentalist way. As was mentioned at the top, his ideology vis-a-vis the Ryan Budget has been found extreme, inhumane and anti-Catholic by the Republican and rightwing-leaning US Catholic Bishops of Bishops.

Paul Ryan is one of the biggest Hypocrites in the country.Paul Ryan, the GOP’s most outspoken advocate for cutting and privatizing Social Security, has already benefited from Social Security himself, in the form of survivor benefits he received after his father’s untimely death.From the age of 16, when his 55-year-old father died of a heart attack, until he was 18, Ryan received Social Security payments, which, according to a lengthy profile in WI Magazine, he put away for college.Ryan’s congressional ascent, all the way to the top spot on the Budget Committee, began with his Social Security-funded college education.Our President's famous speech is again proven right. " You didn't build that".

Romney/Ryan/Rove GOP-Tea Plan to “Save” Our Country:1. Outsource Social Security to Wall Street.2. Outsource Medicare to for-profit insurance.3. Increase military spending.4. More tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.5. Destroy home owners’ mortgage deduction.6. Rail against government, while enriching themselves off of it.7. Proclaim they are the real Christians and impose their values on the Country.8. Proclaim they are the real Americans.9. Continue to fight anything that has to do with a woman's reproductive rights.

Yet again Romney switches his position on issues to get votes. Eliminating capital gains tax was a bad idea when Gingrich's mentioned it during the RNC debates. Now that it's a part of Ryan's proposal he seems to endorse it. It's a win-win for Romney. It will help him get votes and he'll pay almost no taxes from now on since almost all of his income is capital gains.

Problem is that people take things out of context or in sound bites. Or, take a poorly worded phrase and run with it. It is not the way to build a great nation.

There is a rumor that the UN will be passing a law in the US to control guns, It is on the internet and has been refered to by politians. Sad part is, it is not true, but people are quoting the internet ad about it.

This VP pick is a non-issue for undecided voters. Romney's choices throughout his campaign so far just demonstrate the degree to which the GOP is seriously fragmented and rudderless.

The GOP holds Romney up as best Presidential candidate choice for 2012. And look at his performance so far -- quite a bit less than stellar. Now Romney & Co. pick Ryan in an effort to mollify the disgruntled farther right inside the GOP and win the conservative/Tea Party/libertarian vote. Still doesn't solve the ideological rift, however. Doesn't eliminate the tepid response to him from leaders in his own party.

The more interesting question is, What happens to the GOP after 2012 if the Romney/Ryan ticket loses in November?

LOL.........RYAN versus OBAMA .......... this was the most recent "contact" between them before Ryan's nomination Saturday. It exists only in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. (WSJ 7-28-12)

"Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman and the GOP point man on budgetary and other economic issues, said Friday that he has not spoken to President Obama in more than a year. Ryan is probably the most important man in Congress for Obama to do business with if he wants to reduce the deficit and find an agreement that would avert the year-end “fiscal cliff.” During the past year Obama has seen fit to meet with Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger, but not Ryan. You could add to the list a host of other celebrities and athletes, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba, Barbara Streisand, Charles Barkley, Chris Rock, Jay-Z and Tom Hanks…..... and George Clooney, which whom he’s had multiple sessions."

This is unfair to Jay-Z ....... he actually knows a lot more about entrepreneurship than Barry Obama does.

Isn't picking Ryan like Obama picking Gov. Howard Dean or Rep Dennis Kucinich?(no wait, I am wrong cause that would be good for the 99%, which was the opposite of what the Romney camp did...)

I was really surprised by this move, is Romney that concered the Republican base isn't going to come out? This feels like 2008 except the media will not need to do any work in regards to showing what Ryan is all about....

I support Mr. Obama and plan to vote for him again. Mr Ryan was a poor choice, showing the death grip the tea party has on the GOP, a party I belong to. With Mr. Ryan the GOP loses the AARP crowd, Minorities, Hispanics, and any major city with a sizable population.

Atlas Shrugged was a novel, not a blueprint. Ann Rand was a writer, not a god.

I am curious why no one has mentioned / denied Ryan's relationship (or lack of it) with the construction-family empire Ryans, of the midwest, I think Wisconsin. "Ryan Homes" built at least some of southern Pittsburgh,PA, suburbs, where I am from. So I know they've spread across the midwest. I think there are other political pies in which the family has plunked its 1% spoon.

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